Flooring construction



Feb. 21, 1933. G. s. GYNN 1,898,364

FLOORING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 24, 1950 l 1,11' "Il 111111.11 all.

Patented Feb. 21, 1933 PATENT OFFICE GEORGE S. GYNN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO FLOORING CONSTRUCTION Application filed February 24, 1930. Serial No. 430,751.

This invention relates to flooring for buildings, and particularly to matched wood flooring.

The object of the present invention is to 5 provide an improved construction in which the 'floor boards are of the usual tongue and groove variety, so that each board has afooting or bearing throughout its entire length upon its neighboring boards, and nevertheless the boards may be laid without driving nails or other securing devices through the boards themselves, thereby avoiding likelihood of splitting, distorting or breaking the boards or injuring the tongued or grooved edges thereof, but more important, insuring that the boards lie flat upon a uniform base with their upper surfaces in the same plane, so as to avoid or reduce to a minimum the lnecessity for undue scraping or smoothing operations upon the upper face.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flooring construction in which the floor boards are attached t0 the sub-base by supporting them upon clips which interlock with the boards; said clips being directly attached to the sub-base and therefore holding the boards in place.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and improved clip for the purpose stated.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation through a piece of flooring embodying the invention; Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of different forms of clip; and Fig. 4 is a plan view and Fig. 5 a side elevation of one of said clips.

According to my invention, the floor boards l are of the usual tongue and groove construction, one of the opposite edges being provided with a tongue 2 and the other edge 5 with a groove or channel 3 to receive the same. If desired, one face of the board may also be provided with a shallow channel or recess 4 forming a hollow bach designed to rest upon the underneath support. a common arrangement in flooring of this kind, such as oak flooring or the like. The present floor board differs from common practice in that in its tong-ucd edge it is provided with a narrow recess 5 of suitable depth and eX- tendng parallel to the general plane of the board, one wall or surface 6 of this narrow recess beingI a continuation of and in the same plane with a surface of the adjacent tongue 2. On this saine side of the tongue 2 the adjacent vertical face 7 of the board is cut back deeper than the corresponding vertical face 8 on the other side of the tongue, for the purpose of providing a channel or gap between two adjacent boards through which the neck of the securing clip may extend, as will appear. lower edge of each board may be chamferedl off for its full length, as at 9, to provide a small cavity or recess for the head of a securing nail.

In attaching these boards to a sub-base, they may of course be laid directly upon the floor beams, which in the usual manner are placed with their long dimension vertical and are usually spaced about sixteen inches on center. However, where a double floor is desired, the rough flooring may be laid as a sub-floor upon the licor beams, as is usual, and the present iioor boards are attached to it with spaced rows of securing clips corresponding to the spacing of the floor beams, as will be readily understood. In either case, in the ioor as linally completed, the floor boards 1, properly matched, rest upon a series of parallel rows of like clips, the clips in each row being placed end to end and each one of them furnishing support for two neighboring boards, and the rows of clips are spaced on centers according to the spacing of the floor beams.

The clips may be of any suitable construction for the purpose, two forms being shown in the drawing. In Figs. 2, fi, and 5 each clip comprises a plate-like body portion 10 of suitable width and length, the length being usually a little less than the average width of the ioor boards. Said body portion intermediate its ends supports a flange 1l designed to enter the recess 5 of the floor boards. Hence it is spaced from the plate body 10 by a distance equal to the spacing of the recess 5 Furthermore, if desired, the 6 from the nearest face of the floor board and its depth, if anything, is slightly less than the depth of the recess 5. This fiange, in the a 1rangement shown, is supported on the base l by a neck l2 and the flange and neck may be integral parts of the same plate, formed by bending the neck and the dange at right angles to each other and to the body. Also, the neck and flange are sheared out of one end of the plate bor y to form one or two end projections or legs 13, which are really simple continuations of the plate metal of the body itself, and formed by proper choice of width of the flange and neck and said legs. ln the form shown in Fig, 2, the clip is provided with one neck and flange and two legs 13, while in the clip shown in Fig. 3, the clip has two necks and ianges in alinement with each other, between which is located a single extension leg 13.

With either form of clip the plate body is provided with a nail opening 14- preferably slightly elongated lengthwise of the clip and so located upon it as to lie in registry with the hollow back recess of the floor board in the assembled floor. Also, if desired, each clip may have a second opening l5 lying close to the neck 12 for a second securing nail.

In laying this flooring it is laid from right to left in Fig. l. Assuming the first clip al in place, it is secured to the sub-base by driving in a nail on an incline of about 45. The head 21 of the nail will project slightly above the metal of the plate-like body and by driving the nail in at an angle, the clip is not only firmly secured to the sub-base but is also strained or crowded to the right. The next floor board b1 is then laid in place and the i second clip a? is pushed into position with its flange 1l seated in the recess 5. The board itself is crowded to the right by hammer blows, as is usual, and the second clip a2 is then nailed in place with its securing nail driven at an angle as before, thus further crowding the board to the right and firmly fastening it to the fioor by the engagement of the flange and recess. lf for any reason the first nailing operation is not completely successful for any cause, such as due to a knot in the wood or improper nail driving, a second nail 22 may be driven into the second hole 15 in the base. indeed, two nails can be used in each clip, if desired, and the elongation of the holes 14- assists in placing the nail and securing a good nail driving operation. Next. the second board Z22 is laid in place with the third clip a3 beneath it and these parts are secured in like manner as before. When two boards have been mated and secured, as described, the neck l2 of the clip lies in the gap between the adjacent faces along the edges of the boards and the heads of the extra nails Q2 occupy the recess afforded by the chamfering at 9.

With this arrangement, there is no necessity for driving nails through the wood of the flooring itself and the boards are protected against any injury. Moreover, all boards lie upon parallel rows of metal clips and the entire floor therefore lies upon a smooth metal base. Each board has full bearing upon its neighboring boards and the exposed surfaces of all the boards are in the same plane, thereby reducing scraping operations and equalizing joints on the upper or face surface. Again, when it is necessary to remove or take up all or part of this flooring, the boards can be taken off one by one by operations the reverse of those described, rithout injuring the boards, and therefore permitting them to be relaid.

Referring to the clips, it will be seen that in each case the flange 1l and neck l2 are integral portions of the metal of the plate shcared and bent to form therefrom. This enables the entire clip to be formed from a rectangular blank by a simple shearing and bending operation, together with the necessary punching for nail holes. The clips themselves are therefore very inexpensive.

Other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

lt is obvious from the foregoing description that matched tongue and groove flooring which has distinct advantages in the production of a. uniform flat upper floor surface may be secured to a support or sub-floor without the use of nails or other de 'ices being driven through the boards themselves to distort and interfere with their otherwise smooth upper surface.

lVhat l claim is:

l. Flooring construction, comprising a plurality of floor boards each having one of its side edges provided with a full length tongue and the other of its side edges provided with a full length tongue-reeeiving groove, 'the tongued edge of each board being provided below its tongue and spaced above its bottom surface with a full length channel, and a plurality of metal clips for securing said boards, in Hoor forming arrangement, to a sub-base, each of said clips having a plate-like body portion designed to rest flat-wise on and be fastened to said sub-base and also having a board-securing flange spaced upwardly from and generally parallel to said body portion and adapted to enter the channel of a board and thus secure said board to said subbase, said clip body portion bein g provided with a nail-receiving aperture spaced an appreciable distance from the flange of said clip, whereby in driving a nail through said aperture into the sub-base, there is no liability of accidentally hitting and damaging a floor board.

2. Flooring construction as set forth in claim l, characterized in that each board is provided in its bottom surface with a longitudinally disposed recess and in that the body portion of each clip is provided with a nailreceiving aperture so located in said body portion that when said clip is fastened in securing relation with one board, its nail-receiving aperture lies beneath the bottom recess of an adjacent board.

3. Flooring construction as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that each board has one or' its side edges chamfered 01T at the bottom and is provided in its bottom surface with a longitudinally disposed recess, and the body portion of each clip is provided with two nail-receiving apertures so located in said body portion that when said clip is fastened in securing relation with one board, one of its nail-receiving apertures lies beneath the chamfered edge and its other nail-receiving aperture lies beneath the bottom recess of an adjacent board.

4. Flooring construction as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that each clip is provided with a vertically disposed port-ion connecting the clip body portion and the clip flange and in that the face of the tongued edge of each board below its tongue is set back for its full length to provide between adjacent boards clearance for the vertically disposed connecting portions of said clips.

5. As an article of manufacture, a floor board having one of its side edges provided with a full length tongue and the other of its side edges provided with a full length tongue-receiving groove, the tongued edge of said board being provided just below its tongue and spaced entirely above its bottom surface with a full length channel for the reception of portions of securing clips by means of which said board is secured to a sub-base, the face of the tongued edge of each board below its said tongue and channel being vertical and set back to provide between adjacent boards clearance for the vertically extending portions of said securing clips.

In testimony whereof I hereby aliix my signature.

GEORGE S. GYNN. 

